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Walmart Talks Sustainability, But Keeps Sprawling

December 2, 2011, 7am PST

Walmart talks big about climate action, but its land-use strategy is anything but climate-friendly: It builds massive new stores on virgin land in sprawling areas, then abandons them in favor of still newer, still bigger stores, says Stacy Mitchell.

Mitchell reports on several locations where environmental regulations are being bent to accommodate a WalMart when a existing or even a closed Walmart building exists only a short drive away:

"Earlier this year, the New Jersey Sierra Club and the Pinelands Preservation Alliance tried but failed to block a permit for a new Walmart supercenter in the small coastal town of Toms River. The development, now moving forward, will destroy habitat for the threatened northern pine snake. What's especially frustrating about the project, local environmentalists say, is that Walmart already has a store in Toms River. It's just a mile down the road and will be shuttered when the new supercenter opens."

This article is part of a series on Grist examining Walmart's environmental efforts.